Coffee machine

[kezzyleah]

If you're happy with your coffee machine please can you tell me what it is? Am looking to invest in a good one. I absolutely love good coffee and spend a fortune in the amazing independent cafe next to work but would love to recreate it at home, I mainly drink expresso or Americano but dh also likes milky drinks. We had a nespresso machine a few years ago but I didn't love the taste so didn't replace when it broke, I've looked at the Bambino plus which looks good but have also seen lots of recommendations for delonghi. Feel like I have read a million threads but no closer to choosing!

I have a Delonghi Magnifica - bought in the first lockdown and used daily since. Really rate it. Makes a lovely cup of coffee and is easy to run and maintain. Can get three big cups out of one full water tank too so you're not constantly refilling!

Bean to cup coffee always tastes fake to me. Get a good grinder and a good espresso machine. You can then buy a milk frother if the espresso machine doesn’t have a wand for your husbands milky drinks. I love my smeg espresso machine.

If you want to get the best shot you need weighing scales with a timer. If you fill up the hopper with the beans then you need to weigh the amount you grind.

Weigh the empty Portafilter then press tear.
Grind your beans and then weigh the Portafilter again so you know how much your coffee weighs obviously you need to tamp as well.
Then you need to reset the scale and put it under whatever vessel you pull your shot into. Press the timer and the shot button.

You want twice the amount of espresso to what the ground coffee weighed, poured in around 30 seconds so if your ground coffee weighed 18g you want around 36g of espresso in 30 seconds. Make adjustments accordingly, if you get too much coffee out in 30 seconds then you need to grind finer, get too little then you need to grind coarser.

A bit of a faff but I only ever do this when dialling in a fresh bag of beans and then I make minor grind adjustments as the beans age because I can now tell by the flow of the espresso if it's running too fast/slow.

Every bag of beans will generally require different settings. I always use the same coffee beans (200 degrees) but my grind size for a fresh bag can start anywhere between 16 - 22. As the beans age I usually need to grind one step finer every few days.

OP I have the Sage Oracle Touch.

Sage Barista Express Impress

Love it.

We are using Union Bobolink beans and dial on 14

We've also got a Sage Express Impress which I bought during lockdown (refurbished model from an eBay seller so about 30% less than full price but still what QVC euphemistically calls a 'considered purchase'). It's used nearly every day and I actually spend a lot less on coffee out as it's never as good as the coffee I can make at home. It's a nice halfway house between coffee pods and full on 'weighing your beans' - it takes a little bit of practice to get the milk right, but really not a lot. I'd buy another one immediately if it ever breaks.

You do need to use freshly roasted beans, though. I get mine from Black Mountain Roasters or Method Roastery - both excellent small businesses. And yes, you have to adjust the grind as the beans get older. (Or use a different basket in the portafilter - again, hardly a chore).

Kitchen aid drip coffee machine. It's amazing, and it cost £45 on eBay

We have a Nespresso Vertuo (the bigger + newer kind of Nespresso machine) and absolutely love it, genuinely find it hard to enjoy coffee out anymore as ours is so much better! Also have a milk frother for the rare occasion I fancy a cappuccino. Pods come in different sizes depending on if you want an espresso, americano etc so really handy. Around 30 different blends available so there’s something for everyone, it does take a bit of trial and error though to find out what you like and what you don’t.

Only downside is as it’s the newer machine the patent is still valid, meaning you can only buy pods directly from Nespresso. It makes things more expensive but in my opinion definitely worth it for the taste and quality

We have a Delonghi dinamica and love it, the kettle hardly gets used anymore!

https://www.delonghi.com/en-gb/ecam350-50-b-dinamica-automatic-coffee-maker/p/ECAM350.50.B%20EX:4?awaid=25781&referrer=awin&gclid=&utm_source=aw&utm_medium=affiliation_uk&utm_campaign=Kiesproduct%20%22Google%20Shopping%20traffic%22

Have a Delonghi Specialista which is above your budget but replaced a previous DeLonghi which lasted us for 20 years. I would recommend them.

Bean to cup is good but if you want milk I personally would buy a cheaper coffee machine and a separate milk frother as to get good milk and coffee at the same time you really need dual heating system.

I have the Smeg milk frother, which I'm really happy with, does cold and hot foam to varying levels and can be used like the Velvetiser to make hot chocolate (although I believe smaller capacity).

I have a Sage Bambino Plus and love it. It’s a small machine, but feature rich for its size and price point. It’s simple to use, will steam milk excellently automatically and can adapt to either freshly ground (with an external grinder) or pre-ground coffee depending on the baskets used. I’d easily recommend it, and would buy it again.

Sorry to resurrect the thread, I'm looking at a delonghi and wondered if anyone has a refer a friend code that they would like to share?